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Entrepreneurs face obstacles from
the moment they wake up in the morning, whether they're trying to
satisfy investors, struggling to meet payroll, dealing with
unexpected complications or delivering a new product to market.

Of course, not everyone is cut out for these rough seas. But some
individuals stand out as being particularly well-suited for
dealing with what investor and advisor Ben Horowitz calls the
“hard things.”

It’s these entrepreneurs who turn what seems to be an unending
stream of difficulty into advantage. They emerge from obstacles
stronger and more successful. While others lose their heads (or
their shirts), they not only remain calm but seize the offensive
and the opportunities. Subjected to such obstacles, these
entrepreneurs are transformed much in the way that Andy Grove,
former Intel CEO, observed, “Bad companies are destroyed by
crisis. Good companies survive them. Great companies are improved
by them.”

As it turns out, there is a method for understanding and acting
upon the obstacles that life throws at us. There is a way to be
improved by them. Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius forged this
formula centuries ago and wrote it to himself as a daily
reminder:

Willing acceptance -- now at this very moment -- of all external
events.

That’s all you need.”

Iconic entrepreneurs like John D. Rockefeller, Thomas Edison and
Steve Jobs all used this same formula when obstacles confronted
them, even using the situation to fueli their immense ambitions.
For them, the obstacle was the way.

What follows are five strategies born of this ancient maxim.
Forged over centuries, this framework contains timeless wisdom
that we all can use to turn the challenges we face into great
triumphs for ourselves and our companies. It’s the one thing that
all great entrepreneurs have in common.

1. Keep a coolhead. John D.
Rockefeller was barely two years into his first job when the
Panic of 1857 struck. Rockefeller could have become depressed and
paralyzed by the unfortunate circumstances he faced. But instead
of bemoaning the timing of the economic upheaval, he chose to
perceive events differently than his peers. He looked at them as
an opportunity to learn, to experience a baptism by the market.
He was inclined to see opportunity in every disaster, as he once
put it.

Within 20 years of that first crisis, Rockefeller alone
controlled 90 percent of the oil market.

Like Rockefeller, today's entrepreneurs live in turbulent times.
Instead of letting our perception of events cloud our judgment,
we can look to companies like LinkedIn and Microsoft, that were
both founded during times of economic crisis. When others become
lost worrying about a competitor’s latest acquisition or an
investor having a fit, we can channel Rockefeller's coolness
under pressure and look for the opportunity in a crisis.

2. Thinkdifferently. Steve
Jobs was famous for what observers called his “reality distortion
field,” which made him dismissive of phrases like “It can’t be
done.” When he ordered a special kind of glass for the first
iPhone, manufacturers were aghast at the aggressive deadline.
“Don’t be afraid,” Jobs said. “You can do it. Get your mind
around it. You can do it.”

Nearly overnight, manufacturers transformed their facilities into
glassmaking behemoths, and within six months they had made enough
for the whole first run of the phone. His insistence pushed them
past what they thought was possible.

We can choose to reject our first judgments and the objections
that spring out of them by insisting that obstacles are in fact
malleable not concrete. Like, Apple's leader we must have faith
in our ability to make something where there was nothing before.
To companies like Facebook and Google in their startup years, the
idea that no one had ever done something was a good thing. It
meant there was an opportunity to own it themselves.

3. Ignore the rules. Samuel Zemurray, the owner
of a small upstart fruit company, was once told he couldn’t build
the bridge he needed across the river in Central America. This
was because government officials had been bribed by United Fruit,
one of the most powerful companies in the United States at the
time.

So Zemurray had his engineers build two long piers that reached
far into the center of the river instead. When needed they strung
a temporary pontoon that could connect them in a matter of hours.
When United Fruit complained, Zemurray simply laughed and
replied, “Why, that’s no bridge. It’s just a couple old wharfs.”
We can see this type of stoic ingenuity in startups like Uber and
Tesla. There are times that we must take bold action that
requires ignorance of outdated or oppressive regulations to
accomplish our business goals. What’s right is what works.

4. Anticipate (think negatively). There is a
popular technique being used by individuals at startups and
Fortune 500 companies that the Harvard Business Review
has called the pre-mortem. This premortem technique, designed by
psychologist Gary Klein, is an exercise in practicing hindsight
in advance. But like all great ideas, it's actually nothing new.
The credit goes to the ancient Stoics. They even had a better
name for it: premeditatio malorum (premeditation of evils).

Our plans rarely resemble the way things turn out. But as stoic
entrepreneurs, we can rehearse in our minds what could go wrong
and not be caught by surprise. Using this process, we surpass our
competitors who are shocked and fall back, devastated by what
they did not imagine coming.

5. Amor fati (or love your
fate). When Thomas Edison's entire research and
production campus burned to the ground, he didn’t get angry or
become despondent. Instead, he became energized and invigorated.
In only three weeks the factory was partially back up and
running, all because Edison practiced what the ancient Stoics
called amor fati, love of fate.

In our own lives, we can follow Edison's example when we lose an
investor or an employee unexpectedly leaves our startup. When
Jack Dorsey was replaced as CEO at Twitter, he didn’t become
paralyzed or depressed. Instead he accepted it and went on to
found Square, one of the largest payment-processing startups in
the world. We don’t benefit from tears, anger or despair. We
always get something out of passionate intensity and energy.

These great entrepreneurs all used strategies from the ancient
Stoics to flip obstacles upside and find opportunities within
them. They lived out the axioms of Marcus Aurelius and followed a
group that Cicero called the only “real philosophers” -- the
ancient Stoics -- even if they had never read them.

You might not see yourself as a “philosopher,” but then again
neither did most of these men and women. They were not academics,
but men of action. But the essence of philosophy is action,
making good on the ability to turn the obstacle upside down with
our minds. Today author and investor Tim Ferriss refers to
Stoicism as his “operating system” -- and, in the
tradition of those who came before him, he has successfully
driven its adoption throughout Silicon Valley. We too can
follow his example and use what others see as roadblocks as
fuel for our ambitions and inevitable success.